


Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

by Stripe



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, F/M, Multi, Post-Sburb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-25
Updated: 2014-03-25
Packaged: 2018-01-16 21:41:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1362727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stripe/pseuds/Stripe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Four years have passed since the game, and John, Rose, Dave, and Jade go to college and live in a house together. Everything should be perfect.</p><p>But Jade can't shake the feeling that something's missing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Phrenotobe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phrenotobe/gifts).



> This started with the prompt of "four kids in a house with a focus on Jade" and then somehow became this monster. I am so sorry.

The wind whips Jade’s hair about her face, and she holds down the hat over her head to keep it from flying off. On the one hand, she appreciates the coming winter, allowing her to wear a hat constantly without attracting attention, but after thirteen years on a tropical island, she can’t pretend to be fond of the cold. She still loves the snow, but this kind of weather - chilling winds and grey skies - can go kick itself in the butt as far as she’s concerned.

Luckily, their house is only a couple of blocks away from the bus stop, so Jade doesn’t suffer long. It's not the largest place, but it's perfect for the four of them. It was billed as a single-story, three-bedroom, two bathroom house when they bought it with some of Rose's mother's left over money, though only the master bedroom is actually used as a "bedroom." The second one has become a study, where Rose keeps her books and where they can all plug their laptops in and relax for a bit, and the third is simply a "work room," whenever somebody (usually Dave) needs some open space for a project. 

When Jade reaches the front door, she is not surprised to see that only the lights in that work room are currently on while the rest of the house remains dark. She's home late tonight due to some malfunctioning equipment in the lab and had told them not to wait up for her - but she's also well aware that Dave has a painting due tomorrow, and fully expects him to pull an all-nighter on it. 

Jade is quiet as she steps inside the door, letting out a happy hum as the warmth of their house hits her face, starting the process of unfreezing her cold cheeks. She hangs up her hat, fuzzy white ears perking straight up from her tangled hair. Her coat and her scarf (one of Rose's creations) go with it, and she tugs her boots off before tip-toeing into the work room. 

Sure enough, Dave is in there, though the sight would look odd to anybody not used to him. Rather than one haggard looking Dave there, slaving over his work, there are three Daves and three easels, working on what appears to be the same picture in different stages of completion. The one seated in the middle peers over to the canvas on his right, as though to cheat off of him. Jade rests her hands on her hips and clears her throat.

"Ahem!"

Two of the three Daves turn at the sound of her voice, but the one on the right (the one furthest in the timeline, she assumes) continues working, unsurprised. The Dave in the middle grimaces, quickly turning back to his work, but the one on the left continues to look at her, fiddling with the paintbrush between his fingers. "Hey Jade," he greets, trying to act casually. "Lab finally let you go?"

"Yeah, I got my equipment fixed up!" Jade says. "But right now I'm more interested in what you're doing! Is this... three time loops right now?"

Dave glances surreptitiously to his time clones, who are doing their best to keep their heads down. "Well- yeah, maybe." 

Jade sets her hands on her hips, narrowing her eyes at him. "And are all three of you pulling all-nighters?" And suddenly the Dave on the left won't look at her, turning back to his painting and working furiously. "Dave!"

"We got important work to do," says the one on the right, still focused on his canvas. "This is due tomorrow, gotta make sure it wows the professor and all."

"But sleeping is also important, Dave!" she insists. "One of you is getting sleep tonight; I don't care which one it is. Volunteers?"

None of them move. Jade takes that as a sign that she can do whatever she likes with them, then, and without further warning, she steps forward, looping her arms under the middle Dave and picking him up. Dave, much to his dismay, had stopped growing at about five foot one, which makes him the perfect size for carrying. 

The middle Dave lets out an ungraceful squawk when she lifts him, but he knows that struggling won't help his cause - Jade is strong enough to keep her hold on him, and with three easels and a lot of paint nearby, things could go disastrously if he were to kick the wrong thing. So, with a resigned sigh, he relaxes in Jade's hold as she shifts him to bridal style. 

"There, see?" she asks, planting a quick kiss to his cheek. "This isn't so bad. You can get back to it in the morning, but I want you to get at least six hours, OK?"

"Fine," he grumps. "But only six hours. I'm gonna time that shit out."

"I know you will," Jade says, laughing as she hoists him out into the living room, then into the bedroom. She doesn't bother with the lights; she doesn't want to rouse Rose or John, and she can see just fine anyways. Without a hint of delicacy, she drops Dave onto their bed. “Stay,” she whispers as she retreats to the bathroom. Dave grumbles something in return and rolls onto his side.

Jade quickly brushes her hair out, detangling the strands that always end up caught around her ears, before washing her face and brushing her teeth. Her sweater goes off over her head and is tossed thoughtlessly into the laundry basket, and is followed by her bra, jeans, and panties. She considers a shower for a moment before deciding against it - there's always tomorrow, after all, and after such a long day, the only thing that Jade wants to do is crawl into bed with her three favorite people. 

She doesn't bother dressing as she returns to bed, liking the freedom of it. Dave is already curled up against Rose's back, his face pressed into her shoulder, and so Jade gladly takes the other side of the bed, settling in behind John. He stirs slightly as she wraps an arm around his waist.

"Jade?" he asks, though the ending consonant is swallowed by a yawn. Jade grins, tilting her face up to drop a quick kiss on the back of his neck.

"Yep, it's me," she says softly. "But go back to sleep. You need to get up early tomorrow."

"'K," he replies, and with another yawn, he's out again. Jade stays awake for a few minutes longer, listening to the sounds of all four of them breathing, pressing her ear to John's back to hear his heartbeat.

It's soothing after such a long day, and she couldn't be happier.

\----

Jade and John both have classes early in the morning on Wednesdays. While this is hardly a concern for Jade, who would be happy leaving even earlier to get more work done, it is always a struggle to get John out of the house.

"But this class is so dumb!" John says as Jade attempts to shove him out the door. John is the only one of the three that Jade is unable to carry easily; he has a good three inches on her with muscles to match, and while she is capable of carrying him if he's compliant, John is all too good at pitching a fit when he doesn't want to be moved.

"I know, but you need to pass it!" Jade insists. "The professor takes attendance! You. Have. To. Go!"

“Ugggh.” 

“John!”

“OK, OK, I’ll go!” John throws his hands up in defeat. “But that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

"You're a year and a half away from graduating," Jade reminds him, voice softer now that she knows she's convinced him. She teleports his bag over for easy access. "You've made it this far, right? What's the point of giving up now?"

"Sleeping in?" John offers.

"Well, not today, mister." Jade gives him a light shove so that he'll step outside the door, and this time John doesn't resist her. "Anyways, hurry up so we don't miss the bus!"

"You could always just teleport us if we did, though," John says. 

"And risk being caught? No way!" Jade tugs her hat down over her ears, just to be sure they're hidden. 

"Laaaame," John complains. 

"No, _you're_ lame," Jade retorts, though she's grinning a little, and John is too. They both board the bus, taking the first two open seats, and Jade lets herself rest her head on his shoulder.

"Don't fall asleep," John teases her.

"Shut up, like that would even happen!"

It's two more stops before a young man about to board the bus has apparently run out of change to give to the driver. Much to the surprise of everybody, he begins swearing up a storm, listing off profanities as he digs through his pockets. Jade's ears perk up underneath her hat, and she sits up again to get a better look of what's happening.

Finally, under her breath, she can't help but note - "Doesn't he... kind of remind you of-"

"Karkat?" John finishes for her. "Yeah."

"I mean, it's obviously not!" Jade continues. "Like he's not a troll, for one, and he's tall and even if Karkat were a human I don't think he'd look anything like that..."

"But I know what you mean," John says. "Just the language sounds like something he'd say."

"Exactly."

Somebody else on the bus eventually takes pity on the man, paying his bus fee and allowing him to quiet down again, but the thought of it doesn't leave Jade's head.

"I really miss them sometimes, you know," she murmurs, leaning into John again.

"Them?" he asks. "You mean the trolls?"

"Yeah."

“Me too,” he says. “Like, even the dumb conversations I had with Karkat when we were little, and he was trolling me backwards? Is that weird?”

Jade laughs at that. “Yeah, and I had to set up passwords just so he wouldn't do the same thing to me! Ugh, and he got sooo caught up in all that Past-Karkat and Future-Karkat stuff too!"

"No kidding," John says, grinning a bit. "Man, who thought we'd get nostalgic for those conversations?"

"Definitely not Past-Jade!"

Both of them laugh at that, falling into silence for a moment.

"I wish we could talk to them again," John murmurs, so softly that Jade almost doesn't catch it, her ears covered as they are. "Like, even if it were just over pesterchum or something, you know? At least we could know they made it out OK..."

Jade's mind sparks.

\----

"...so I thought that maybe I could use some temporal and spatial mechanics to set up a connection to their new universe through the old Sburb session, and then we could connect _that_ to a computer, and then they could talk to us again!" 

They're seated in the school cafeteria, sharing their usual Wednesday lunch together. Jade gesticulates wildly, a brilliant smile on her face; Rose's face remains passive.

"And you believe that this will actually work?" she asks. "You may have the theory, but do you think you have the mechanical prowess to pull this off? We no longer have contact with Dirk and Roxy, need I remind you."

Jade rolls her eyes. "Come on, Rose, I know my way around machines! I'll have you know I fixed my dream bot plenty of times, and she was connected to Prospit, which was part of the game! It's not too different!"

"Of course - I don't mean to disparage your talents," Rose assures her. "Simply... I do not wish for you to get your hopes up."

"I'm not! Look, I even drew up these plans during class today!" Jade rummages through her backpack, pulling out a college-ruled notebook. She flips through several pages littered with doodled hearts and flowers until she finally reaches the notes with today's date on the top. Written there are rough schematics and equations, covering three pages. 

Rose raises her eyebrows slightly as she flips through them, and Jade knows that to be a sign that she is legitimately impressed, even if she doesn't want to show it. "Shall I take it that this means you did not pay attention to your lecturer today?" she asks. 

"I didn't need to!" Jade assures her. "That class is super easy!"

"Is it? What class did you have this morning again?"

"Quantum Mechanics. Baby stuff, really!"

"Oh, naturally," Rose says, smiling. "I'm sure half the students there are taking it just for the easy 'A'."

"Well if they aren't, they should be!" Jade replies, matching her smile. "Either way, this was a much better use of my time!”

"And where do you plan on getting the equipment for all of this, dare I ask?" Rose questions, sliding the notebook back over.

“Well, I think most of it can just be done with an old computer!” Jade assures her. “I mean, it’s only connecting messaging systems, and I think with some help from Dave I can alter the parts I need! And we still have John’s old computer lying around, right?”

“Yes, I believe we do.” Rose returns to focusing on her food, smile fading only a little. “Just promise me you won’t get too invested in this, Jade. I realize we’ve all missed them, and I would be as eager to reconnect as you. But you still have school and work to focus on. Let those take first priority.”

“Of course, Rose!” Jade says, leaning across the table and pecking her lips. “It will just be a side project! That’s all. I promise.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”


	2. two

Jade takes over the work room, computer parts spread out as she tinkers. Dave doesn’t have any projects due for quite a while, thankfully, and neither Rose nor John usually need to make use of that workspace, leaving her free to do as she pleases.

She doesn’t have as much time to work on it as she’d like, admittedly - between classes and the lab she’s working in and the lab she’s volunteering for, she’s not home for much of the day, and even when she is home, she prefers to spend it either sleeping or spending time with John, Dave, or Rose. 

But today’s a Saturday, meaning that she has plenty of time to work on her new project. She pulls her long hair back into a ponytail, to keep it from getting in the way as she tinkers with delicate parts. It’s nice, she muses, allowing herself to get caught up in her work like this, with nobody looking over her shoulder to make sure it’s being done _their_ way. No professors who think they know better, no co-workers or other students who need to ask her for advice. Just her and her ideas. 

Why can’t her actual labs be like this?

Not to say that this work room is free of distractions, of course, and barely even an hour into her work, Jade’s ears catch the sound of two sets of footsteps, headed her way. She starts to put her materials away, knowing that her focus is about to be broken. 

And sure enough, just a few second later - “Hey, Jade! We’re going out to get ice cream and see that new Nic Cage movie!” 

Jade grins, turning back to see John and a rather disgruntled Dave standing there. “Is Rose not going?”

“No, she refused to see it on principle since it’s apparently an adaptation of some book that only she’s actually read?” John shrugs. “And I decided to give Dave heckling rights, but only through his blog and twitter feed.”

“My online following’s all itching to see me bash this movie,” Dave explains. “If you come I’ll let you read over my posts before I post them. Exclusive, behind-the-scenes material. Can’t turn that opportunity down.”

Jade giggles, brushing out her skirts as she stands up and takes out her ponytail. “OK, I guess I’ll go. But I will have you know you are interrupting very important work here! And you guys have to buy me popcorn and Skittles!”

John laughs, and Dave even smiles a little bit. “Deal.”

\----

Jade’s jerked awake by what feels like a kick in the gut - and as she blinks into the darkness, she realizes that it was _exactly_ a kick in the gut. Rose is thrashing out next to her, clearly in the throes of a nightmare. They all have them; their brains had trouble readjusting to the idea of not existing on one of the moons or in the bubbles while asleep, and the game provided a myriad of options for terrors to dream about. Jade can only guess what Rose is seeing now, but she has it narrowed down to a top ten list.

There’s no hesitation as Jade draws the smaller girl into her arms, holding her close. “Rose,” she whispers, dropping a kiss in her hair. “Rose, it’s OK. You’re OK.”

Her answer is nothing but a strained whimper, still deep in the nightmare. Jade knows not to shake her awake by now - it’s never ended well - so she simply continues to hold her, stroking her back, trying to inject some gentleness into her headspace. 

Finally, Rose wakes with a gasp, her fingers clawing at Jade’s sleeves as she gets her bearings. “It’s OK, Rose,” Jade says softly, pressing another kiss to the top of Rose’s head as she begins to relax.

“Jade?” She sounds exhausted.

“That’s me.” Yet another kiss. “Do you need to talk?”

Rose lets out a shuddering sigh, burying her face into Jade’s shoulder. “I’m afraid it would be terribly boring. My nightmares have stopped coming up with new material as of late.”

“Boring? You?” Jade squeezes her tight. “Never! If you want to talk, then I am here no matter what.”

“Thank you,” Rose says, sounding relieved. “It- involved the gods from the furthest ring again. Invading my thoughts, whispering to me, giving me orders. As usual, I can’t help but worry that perhaps the dreams are a sign that my connection to them is not yet broken, or that I might have carried a small part of them with me.”

“But you still haven’t noticed them talking to you during the day, right?”

“No, I have not. For now I’m choosing to cling to that hope.”

Jade tilts her head to give Rose a quick kiss on the temple. “Then it’s probably just a dream. And if it looks like you have tentacles in your brain after all, I promise that me and Dave and John will do everything we can to keep you safe and to help get them out. You are in good hands!”

She can feel Rose’s sigh of relief as the former Seer of Light tilts her head up for a proper kiss on the lips, though it’s short and relatively chaste. “Thank you, Jade. I trust you.” Rose’s arms slide around her waist, then, as she tucks her face back into Jade’s shoulder. “And I trust that you would be amenable to staying in this position for the rest of the night? I could use the comfort, I believe.”

“Of course, Rose. Anything you need.”

\----

“OK, today should be the day!” Jade announces, her tail wagging behind her as she boots up John’s old computer. John, Rose, and Dave are all crowding in behind her, peering over her shoulder. Finally, after some worrying whirring, John’s wallpaper comes into view.

“Wow, dude. Nice photoshop skills there.”

“Shut up, Dave! I made it when I was, like, twelve! Remember Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff?”

“Nah, but see, that was ironically bad. You probably thought this was the shit when you made it.” 

John lightly elbows Dave face - not enough to hurt, but enough to knock his shades askew and push him towards Rose. Dave opens his mouth to retaliate, but Jade turns and cuts him off.

“Both of you shush! I swear it’s like I am dating two nine-year-olds!”

“But together we level up to make a full eighteen-year-old.”

“Dave!” Jade puffs her cheeks out a little, because if he’s being immature, then she can be immature too. “This is supposed to be a big moment! I may have just invented trans-dimensional communication!”

“We’ll be quiet, Jade,” Rose promises, elbowing Dave lightly in the side. “Go on - I’d like to see this program of yours work.”

Jade grins, leaning in to kiss Rose quickly on the lips before she wheels back around to the computer and opens up pesterchum. The computer whirrs dangerously as the program loads, but Jade reaches out to stroke and quietly shoosh the monitor, and somehow this seems to quiet it down. 

In the end, the screen is left showing a blank chumroll. 

“Hey!” John shouts, leaning in. “Where’d all my contacts go?”

Jade rolls her eyes. “It’s a trans-dimensional program, John! You haven’t talked to anybody with this version yet!” She opens up a new window, however, typing the chumhandle “carcinoGeneticist” into the box. “But don’t worry, that should change soon!”

She types out a message:

EB: karkat!! :o are you there???

There’s a few moments of hushed quiet as all four of them stare at the screen together. It’s Dave who finally asks - “So how do we know it worked?”

Jade frowns. “Well, obviously a response would confirm it for sure,” she mutters. “But it’s also possible he’s just not in right now?”

“Perhaps you should try somebody else?” Rose suggests.

“Yeah, maybe!”

The next message goes to grimAuxiliatrix - 

EB: kanaya!! its me jade!!! :D  
EB: are you there?

Still nothing. 

In a fit of desperation, Jade tries every chumhandle that they can remember among the four of them, but the result is the same - silence. 

A hand comes to rest on Jade’s shoulder, but she accepts the comfort for only a moment before she’s tearing through her blueprints and equations, trying to find the mistake. “This should have worked!” she says. “Our universe is linked to theirs, it has to be! And I’m positive this should have routed through the remains of the old session…”

“Perhaps they are simply all asleep?” Rose offers gently. “We can leave the computer running overnight, just in case.”

“Could be they ditched their old handles, too,” Dave says. “I mean, they’re probably also whatever the troll version of twenty years old is, maybe they’re embarrassed by their old usernames.”

“But we all kept ours!” Jade insists. “And there are _twelve_ of them - one of them’s bound to have the same one!”

“Maybe-” John starts, but he’s quickly cut off.

“Shush! Let me think!” Jade’s buck teeth gnaw at her lower lip as her eyes scan through her plans. The other three wait in silence, passing concerned looks at each other from behind her. Finally, after a good ten or fifteen minutes, Jade’s shoulders slump. “Oh,” she says softly.

“Oh?” Rose hazards.

“I guess- I mean, I was right! I definitely succeeded in routing it through and connecting it through the meta-dimensional space of Sburb… but I don’t have any way of knowing how to get to their universe. I mean, who knows how many different universes ended up getting made! Or- remade I guess. So… right now my signal is just bouncing around in Sburb space with nowhere to go.”

She turns back to face the other three, and she can at least appreciate that they’re trying to hide their disappointed expressions from her. But John has always been transparent, and Jade has known Rose and Dave too long to read the matching slump in their shoulders as anything else. 

“So,” John says, “that means it’s impossible?”

“Well… if one of the trolls managed to have the exact same idea as me and also connected through to Sburb, I think it could work?” she offers, hesitantly. “But there’s nothing else I can do.”

A moment of defeated silence.

“Come on,” Dave says finally, reaching out to squeeze her shoulder. “Let’s get you to bed. You’ve done a lot today, you deserve the rest.”

Jade can find no protest, and so they lead her to bed, collecting her between them and holding her tight.


	3. three

That night, Jade is drowning, not in water, but in thoughts. She can’t breathe and when she tries to reach the surface for a moment of clarity, she feels herself being tugged down again. 

She opens her eyes, but instead of being in the comfort and warmth of her bedroom, she’s floating out in the oppressive darkness of the medium. Tendrils float behind her, and while at first she thinks of the tentacles that haunt Rose’s nightmares, she realizes that it’s hair.

_SUBMITOBEYCONSUME_

And suddenly her skin lacks pigment, and she can feel the green sun’s energy crackling up and down her arms, used against her will. There’s another presence in the back of her mind, one she knows all too well. She doesn’t need to see her to know who it is. 

She spins around and sees the her old friends - Karkat, Kanaya, Terezi - staring at her but otherwise doing nothing. More commands run through Jade’s head at a rapid fire pace, but they’re too quick and too many for her to pick up on the specifics of any of them. But the effect is the same, and they’re drowning out her own thoughts…

Kanaya opens her mouth and shouts - “Jade!” - but the sound of her voice isn’t quite right. Jade approaches her against her own will, ears pressed flat against her head and a growl building in the back of her throat, and the trolls look rightly terrified.

“Jade!” Kanaya shouts again, and as Jade feels herself being enveloped, she realizes the voice belongs to Rose. 

She jerks awake with a sharp intake of breath.

Jade finds herself in Rose’s arms, nose pressed to her shoulder, drowning her in the other girl’s scent. “Jade,” she hears again, though instead of the roar she had heard in her dreams, it’s nothing more than a gentle whisper. She can hear the soft snoring of the boys from her other side, Dave’s breath on the back of her neck. “Are you alright?” Rose asks.

Jade soundlessly shakes her head, and pulls Rose into a tighter hug.

“You were growling,” Rose says softly. “Was it the Condesce?”

Jade nods. 

“You haven’t dreamt about her in months,” Rose notes. Jade feels her hand reaching up to scratch behind her ears. “Would you like me to stay up with you? I can make tea, or we could put on a movie in the living room.”

Jade shakes her head slightly, not wanting to dislodge Rose’s fingers from her ears. “No, I’m OK,” she says, finding her voice again. “Well- not _OK_ but you don’t need to worry. The ear scratching helps.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

And so they lie in silence, Jade letting her eyes fall closed as Rose continues to scratch. Yet eventually, Rose’s fingers slow, and Jade can hear her breathing even out, matching the boys’, as she slips back to sleep. 

Jade tries to fall asleep as well - she really does. But after that dream, her brain is on fire, as though remembering what it was like to have her thoughts oppressed had freed her mind to focus on other things. As much as she tries to relax, her hands are twitching, entire body itching to get back to wok.

She knows exactly what she needs to do.

\----

“Jade? What are you doing here? It’s almost time to catch the bus!”

Jade looks up over her shoulder from the work room, surprised to see John poking his head in the doorway. “Oh, hey John! I was just working!”

He frowns at her. “Working on what? I thought you said your idea to talk to the trolls wasn’t going to work.”

“Well, I’ve reconsidered!” she says. “I got hit with a stroke of inspiration last night. It’s a totally different plan this time, but I think it’s going to work!”

“And you’ve been working on it ever since?” John guesses

“Yep!” Thinking that question’s settled, she turns back to the circuitry in her hands, trying to untangle some wires. 

John doesn’t leave, however, and after another moment, he says, “Jade, we’ve got to _go_. If I have to get up early to catch this bus, then so do you.”

“I’m up early anyways!” she points out.

“Well, you’re not making me face public transportation alone. Come on, let’s _go_!”

“Once I get these wires to obey!” Jade says. “I promise!”

“But Jaaaaade!”

“Shooosh! You are breaking my concentration!”

“ _Jaaaaaaaade_!”

Finally, Jade throws her hands up in frustration, wires forgotten. “Fine! I will get ready, just cease your silly whining! You are worse than Dave when he wants apple juice!”

John grins and walks over, easily scooping her into his arms. Jade makes a show of trying to resist him, but she admittedly likes this - John’s the only one who’s taller than her, who can pick her up without some amount of awkwardness. “Your stuff will be here when you get back tonight,” he reminds her. 

“I guess so.”

“So do you forgive me or are you going to be making that dumb pouty face the whole trip there?” He pokes her cheeks to demonstrate, and Jade can’t help but break out into a smile.

“I _guess_ I can forgive you,” she says. “But only on one condition!”

“Yeah? What’s that?”

“You have to cuddle me all night! No other options!”

John just laughs. “Geez, you’re so bossy! But fine, fine. Just for you, I’ll do it.”

\----

Jade’s workspace has become steadily more cluttered as her project has continued, with new parts scattered around her. John’s original modified computer sits off to the side, still online but forgotten, all of the chats still idle. Instead, a massive structure is taking shape in the center of the room, various pieces and wires lying haphazardly to the side. Jade always manages to expertly step around them when she needs to move, tiptoeing around the dangerous bits, the precise coordinates of each part already burned into her mind. 

But for now, she is simply engrossed in her work. Her hair is tied back so that it doesn’t get in the way, and she hasn’t moved from her present location in hours. She hears a knock on the door frame, and looks up to see Dave in the crow pajamas Rose has purchased for his birthday last year. They’re just a bit too big for him, the sleeves hanging down near his fingertips, and with his shades slipping down his nose and his hair askew, he looks reminiscent of a child trying to ask his mom to let him stay up past his bedtime.

“Hi, Dave!” she greets with a pleasant smile, glad to see him. “You’re up late.”

“Yeah, well, so are you,” he says. “You coming to bed?”

“I’m working!” 

“Yeah, I can tell. You gonna be done working soon?”

Jade purses her lips, looking back to her work. Part of her knows that she should go to bed and get rest - she has class the next morning, bright and early. But there’s another part of her urging her to keep working until she simply collapses, because seeing the trolls again is more important than any grade in any course could ever be. 

She realizes she’s been silent for too long when Dave sets a hand on her shoulder, snapping her out of her thoughts. “Jade,” he says. “You OK? You’ve been sort of frantic about this new project.”

“I’m just excited!” she assures him, tugging him down for a quick peck on the lips. “I’m absolutely sure it will work this time, and it will be even better than just talking to them on pesterchum!”

Dave doesn’t return the kiss. Instead, he stares at her, a small crease in his brow betraying his concern. “Better than pesterchum?” he asks. “Jade, what the hell are you planning?”

“I’m _planning_ to bring them here!” Jade says, and she gestures towards the machine. “That’s why it’s taking so much work! I have to build a transportalizer big enough and powerful enough that it can transport something as big as a troll through to another dimension! That is not easy, I will have you know.”

Dave looks up at her device, but he still doesn’t look particularly impressed. “What are we going to do with the trolls once we have them?” he asks. “And where did you even get all these supplies. Did you buy them? _Can_ you even buy them? Like, is there a Mad Scientists ‘R Us down the road that I’m missing on the way to class?”

Jade rolls her eyes. “I just borrowed it from the school! I found some of this stuff unused in an old supply closet, so I figured I could take it without anybody caring.”

“OK, so what I’m hearing is that you’re gonna return all this first thing tomorrow-”

“But Dave-!”

“-but right now you gotta get to sleep. Come on.”

Jade frowns and narrows her eyes at him. “No! I’ve still got things to do!”

“Yeah, and those things are sleep. Come _on_.” And he tugs up on her arm, trying to get her to stand up. Jade refuses and stubbornly remains sitting, more than strong enough to resist him. “Jade, don’t make me pull out the time duplicates on you. It’s just gonna make things difficult for everyone.”

“Dave! Just leave me alone!” 

“Only if you start acting rationally. Jade, just-”

What happens next goes so quickly that Jade doesn’t process it immediately. She lashes out at him with one hand, just trying to get him to _listen_ \- to submit, to obey, to _stop talking_. But the next thing she knows, his shades are lying on the ground, broken, and there’s blood as red as his eyes from a cut just under his left eye. He stares at her in disbelief, and all aggression leaves her. 

“Oh my god, Dave, I’m so-” She stands up, cupping his cheek, getting a look at the cut. It’s not bad, not deep, but the look on his face is enough to make her feel gutted. “So sorry. I didn’t mean to-”

“You broke my shades,” is how he responds, voice soft. “The ones John gave me, I-”

Jade ducks down quickly to scoop them into her hands. The frame is bent and one of the lenses is popped out, but nothing is shattered, thankfully. “I’ll fix them,” she says. “Don’t worry, I promise, I’m really sorry.”

Dave says nothing. The blood starts to trickle down his face and she cups his cheek again, brushing it away with her thumb. “Are you mad?” she asks, ears pressed flat against her hair.

“Fuck, I- no, I’m not mad, Jade. Just scared about what’s gotten into you. Always knew you were a physics geek, but this is taking it to the next level.” 

“I’ll help you clean up,” she says rather than addressing his concerns, carefully guiding him through her landmine of a workspace and into the bathroom. She helps him wash up and disinfects the cut before finally following him to bed, like he had wanted in the first place. She falls asleep with him wrapped in her arms.

The next day Dave makes up a story as to why he’s wearing a bandaid on his face, which changes drastically with each retelling. Jade has his shades fixed by lunchtime, and they spend a good thirty minutes talking and making up, then making out.

But the day after, Jade is back in the work room as though she’d never left.


	4. four

“Jade.” There is no mistaking the harsh disapprovement in Rose’s voice right now, but Jade is almost done, she is not going to submit to Rose’s whims now. She focuses all of her attention on the machine in front of her, acting as though she simply hasn’t noticed Rose standing behind her, no doubt with her arms crossed. “Jade,” Rose says again. “This has got to _stop_.”

Jade tries to let it sit and continue to pointedly ignore Rose, but finally her irritation outweighs her desire to be irritating herself. “I’m doing good work!” she says, turning to face Rose. “Plus, it’s almost done! Just another hour or two, and they’ll be right here!”

Rose frowns. “Who will be right here?”

“The trolls!”

It’s only now that Rose gives the contraption Jade’s building a critical eye. “And how, exactly, do you plan to get them here? I understood the concept behind your modified chat client well enough, but this one isn’t quite making sense to me.”

Despite Rose’s obvious skepticism, Jade can’t help but take the opportunity to talk about her project. She smiles just a bit. “Well, the basic concept is just a transportalizer,” she says. “Which, yeah, I _know_ it hasn’t been invented here yet technically! But it’s not that hard to make one, especially when you still have space powers like I do! And I just used some of the same tech that I used to connect to the session and all, and with some help from Dave’s time powers, we can transport the trolls here!”

Jade had been hoping for some modicum of excitement from Rose, but all she gets instead is a stern, somewhat concerned expression. “And where would we be transporting them _from_ , Jade? They went into their own universe, presumably. They won’t be in the remains of the medium.” 

Jade rolls her eyes. “I know that! Duh! But that’s where Dave comes in! We can just sort of bring them here from when we were still playing the game! I have him help me set the coordinates to a time where I know everybody is, and we’re set! I can just pull them out of the game.”

Rose is quiet for a long moment, her eyes narrowed as she quietly sizes Jade up. Finally - “Are you not concerned about the effects that might have on the timeline? Not to mention, what would we do with the trolls once you brought them here. We only have so much room in this house, and even _one_ troll would greatly disrupt our homelife, let alone three or four of them. They would be bound to us for the rest of their lives, or else they may be captured by the government or something similar.”

“But don’t you want to see them again?” Jade insists. “And anyways, I’m pretty sure our timeline will be fine! It will make another doomed timeline, I guess? Especially if I take them before our final battle. But I think everybody here will be fine!”

“I don’t think Dave will eager to agree to this plan of yours.”

“Of course he will!” Jade says, standing up so that she no longer has to look up at Rose, instead using her height advantage to stare her down. “And even if he doesn’t want to at first, I’m sure I can convince him! I know he misses Karkat a lot!” A pause. “I’m surprised - I thought for sure that you’d want to see Kanaya again!”

Rose’s lips thin. “This has nothing to do with how much I do or do not want to see the trolls again, Jade. I’m simply trying to employ some common sense here. What good would it do us to have the trolls in this universe?”

“We could see them again!”

“And potentially cause global chaos over the existence of extraterrestrial life? I understand your desire to see them again. I do. But this plan isn’t feasible, and I am honestly surprised that you haven’t thought it through.”

“It is feasible!” Jade insists. “They don’t have to stay with us! They can go and live somewhere else, and maybe even hatch a mother grub like Kanaya was trying to do, and then they can have their own colony here…” She begins to trail off - even something about her own words is striking her as wrong. As though they aren’t quite her own, even though she thought them and they came out of her mouth. 

Rose is giving her a look. “A colony, Jade?”

She shakes her head. Shouldn’t she have some conviction in her own plan? “Yeah! What’s wrong with that? I think it’d be shell- I mean, swell! Think of all of the things we could learn from another species!”

Rose’s eyes widen just a fraction. “Did you just say shell?”

Jade’s entire being jolts a little, her fist clenching around the screwdriver in her hand. “Just a slip of the tongue!” 

But Rose clearly isn’t buying it, and she daintily steps over some circuitry so that she’s close enough to reach out for Jade. “Jade. Please. Step away from the machine. I think we need to talk.”

“No! I’m fine! Just let me work!”

“Jade-” Rose reaches out to her, but quickly retracts her hand, as though scared. “Jade, you’re growling.”

Suddenly the whole house seems to fall silent but for the sound of the growling rumbling through her throat, something Jade hadn’t even noticed until now. It’s then that she realizes it isn’t the house that was noisy. It was her head, full of whispers, filling her mind with thoughts that never belonged to her in the first place. They slowly seep back in, and now she can just make them out, the background noise to her entire project so far.

_submit obey consume_

The screwdriver falls from her hand, falling to the ground with a clatter. “Oh god.”

“Jade?” Rose asks softly, trying again to rest a hand on her shoulder. “Are you alright?” 

All Jade can manage is a helpless shake of her head.

“Come on, let’s go to the couch,” Rose continues, and she drops her hand down to snatch Jade’s. “It will do you well to get away from this room, I think. And I think we could do with a good heart-to-heart.” She offers a smile, and tugs Jade’s hand, leading her away. 

John and Dave are in the kitchen, technically within earshot, but the couch faces away from them offering the illusion of privacy. Rose settles Jade down on the couch and sits next to her, keeping a hold on her hand. For a long time, silence passes between them as Jade steadies her breathing and Rose waits for her to be ready to speak.

Finally - “I think there may be some of the Condesce left,” Jade says quietly, grimacing at the way the words fall from her mouth. “It doesn’t even really make sense, because there shouldn’t be any way that she can get to me! So it can’t actually be her, but…”

“But you still find yourself compelled to do things she would have wanted of you?” Rose guesses, sliding a hand back to rub the small of Jade’s back. 

“Yeah, exactly.” Jade shifts, leaning into Rose a bit. “Like, she left a footprint on my brain and even if she’s dead now, there’s still evidence that she’s there, and I still want to do all of the stuff that she wanted to do…”

“I think I can understand.”

Jade looks at her, surprised. “Really?” she asks. 

“Of course - you’re not the only one to have had questionable sea life in your head. Understandably, a power-crazed alien empress differs somewhat from a legion of all-knowing, tentacled gods, but I think the general principle is somewhat the same.” 

Jade lets out a shaky laugh. “But you don’t go off devoting your life to making weird machines and punching Dave in the face.”

“That was you?”

Jade feels her cheeks flush, ears twitching. “It was an accident?” 

“I’m sure he’s forgiven you,” Rose assures her. “And at any rate, just because I do not attempt summoning rituals for beings from the outer ring does not mean that I don’t have the compulsion to. Some days it becomes very hard to ignore it.”

“Then what stops you?” Jade asks. 

“Recognizing the compulsions for what they are,” Rose says. “Acknowledging that the game has left its mark on me, then refusing to let it leave more. And… at the end of the day, having the three of you by my side helps me maintain the conviction to not give into whatever voice is in my head, even if it’s just a distorted version of my own.”

Jade can’t help but smile, just a little, and she pulls Rose into her lap, wanting her closer. “Aw, Rose! You know we’re always here to help you.”

“Just as we’re always here to help you,” Rose reminds her. “Do you promise you’ll let this project sit now? I’ve missed you.”

Jade lets out a heavy sigh. It’s hard - there’s still a part of her that wants to finish the machine, that refuses to let go of it. But she’s missed Rose, and she’s missed Dave and John, and it’s the thought of the three of them that finally gets her to say it. “Yeah. I’ll get rid of it. I’m sorry I’ve been so awful lately…”

“You’re forgiven,” Rose assures her. “I’m glad you’re alright. And this was, at any rate, far more bearable than John’s sudden re-obsession with Little Monsters a few months ago. If I never have to see that movie again, it will be too soon.”

Jade knows she’s exaggerating, but that doesn’t stop her from laughing gratefully, leaning forward and pressing her forehead to Rose’s shoulder. 

“Hey! I can hear you, you know!” John calls out from the kitchen, and though Jade doesn’t turn to look, but she can hear footsteps coming into the living room.” 

“I’m well aware, John. I am merely voicing my opinion that watching Little Monsters every night for an entire month is a little excessive." 

“Hey!” 

“Yeah, I’m definitely with Rose on this one,” comes Dave’s voice, already behind the couch. Jade feels a hand fall into her hair, feeling for her ears and scratching. “That was fucking awful. Sitting through that movie once was bad enough.”

“You’re all against me!” John says, and Jade can see him from the corner of her eye, sitting next to her on the couch and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “Don’t tell me you hated it too, Jade?”

“Well… I guess it wasn’t _that_ bad,” she grants, finally pulling her face away from Rose’s shoulder to smile brilliantly at all of them. “But I think five times was my limit!”

John lets out an over-dramatic sigh. “Well I guess none of you appreciate good movies like I do.”

Jade giggles, and there’s a comfortable silence where she simply enjoys the presence of her three favorite people.

Dave breaks it. “You feeling better now?” he asks, voice soft as he scratches in just the place behind her ears.

“I think so,” Jade says. “Just keep me away from trans-dimensional machines for a while and I think I’ll be OK.”

“Good,” John says. “Because you were getting kind of scary for a while there.”

“I’m sorry,” Jade says, ears drooping. 

“It’s fine.” He leans in, kissing her cheek. “Love you.”

Before Jade can respond, Rose leans in to kiss her other cheek. “Love you.”

And Dave leans down to press a kiss to the top of her head, right between her ears. “Yeah,” he agrees. “Love you.”

Jade’s tail thrashes against the couch cushions as it wags behind her, her heart so full it feels like it’s bursting. 

“I love all of you, too.”

\----

Jade disassembles her machine and returns the stolen parts the next day. The only machine left running in the work room is John’s computer, with its twelve idle pesterchum windows, and she swears to keep it that way.

The weather gets colder. They celebrate the three December birthdays in one party, just the four of them opening gifts to one another, John complaining (as always) that it was so inconvenient that he had to buy three gifts all at once. 

The end of the semester sees Dave running time loops five times over, just to catch up with all of his neglected projects. This time, he’s happy to let Jade carry him back to the bedroom when she inevitably comes for him, whispers “I’m glad you’re back” before they both go to sleep.

John passes his classes, somehow, though his major remains murky to all that know him. 

As the holiday season rolls around, Rose busies herself with knitting anything she can get the yarn to make - Dave gets another tacky holiday sweater to add to his collection, John gets another pair of mittens, and Jade gets a new hat. 

Jade insists that they travel, at least a little, so before classes start in January, they take a skiing trip up in the mountains. Dave sprains his ankle on the second day due to overconfidence, and so they spend their remaining time huddled up in the blankets at the inn together, sipping hot cocoa and being entirely too sappy at one another.

The nightmares don’t stop. John sometimes wakes up crying for his father. Rose occasionally lapses into Eldritch. Dave will sit up clutching at a gaping neck wound that isn’t there, and even still, Jade sometimes dreams up a new command from the former Betty Crocker.

But they huddle together, they adapt, and despite the odds, they face the oncoming year with optimism.

All the while, the computer stays running, left mostly forgotten. Jade pays it a glance whenever she goes in to check on Dave’s artistic endeavors, but never more than that.

For months it stays static, but as the first hints of spring finally start to creep in, one of the chats begins to flash.

TA: hey jade ii2 that you?  
TA: ii only ju2t got thii2 2tupiid thiing 2et up  
TA: you would not beliieve how hard iit ii2 two get a bunch of lo2er2 two lii2ten to me about 2ettiing up thii2 network  
TA: are you there?


End file.
